For 83 weeks straight WCW won the head-to-head ratings battle. That streak ended on 13th April, as Raw drew a 4.6 to Nitro's 4.3. WWF had shown signs of momentum in the ratings the last two weeks. Expectations were that both WWF & WCW would go full-out to win the following week. Instead WWF put forth one of its best programs ever (in terms of storylines & interviews but certainly not quality of wrestling) while WCW presented a Nitro that outside of the final segment resembled a flat edition of Thunder. As a result despite WWF having legitimate reason to celebrate having the monkey off their back & at least one week to "brag" about being wrestling's most watched program, WCW had a case to not be especially worried. WCW managed to remain within three-tenths of a rating point despite not having Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair or Scott Hall in prominent matches or roles during the show. WCW appeared to almost concede the ratings battle putting forth a flat show other than the strong main event of Sting defending against Kevin Nash for the second straight week. WWF didn't give away a marquee match but they teased the most intriguing main event they could possibly present - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon. The build up was sufficient to draw huge ratings. The climax of the Austin-McMahon storyline at the end of Raw drew a 6.0, an all-time quarter hour rating high for either Raw or Nitro in a head-to-head situation beating the record set by the Sting vs. Nash match the previous week which drew a 5.8. The Sting vs. Nash rematch drew a respectable 4.3 rating. Raw won five quarter hours, Nitro won two & there was one tie. Raw beat Nitro in both hours, 4.3 to 4.2 in the first hour & 4.6 to 4.3 in the second hour. Nitro drew a 4.4 in its first unopposed hour. While Raw's ratings are growing, Nitro's ratings aren't suffering at all. WCW definitely reacted to losing to Raw last week by presenting Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy Savage on Nitro, perhaps the top drawing feud in wrestling in the United States over the last 20 years. Powered by Hogan beating Savage to capture the WCW Title in the TV main event, Nitro regained the ratings lead on Monday night 20th April, ending Raw's winning streak at one week. Nitro drew a 5.1 compared to Raw's 4.4 in the two head-to-head hours. The Hogan vs. Savage main event drew an all-time record viewership for cable wrestling, a 6.5 rating, beating the previous record set by the Austin-McMahon angle the week before, which drew a 6.0. In the battle of quarter hours, Nitro won five, Raw won two & there was one tie. The combined rating for the two head-to-head hours was 9.5, breaking the previous record of 9.0 set two weeks earlier. The combined average audience for both shows over the course of the two hours was 7 million. In the unopposed first hour, Nitro drew a 5.2 rating. Although there were two WCW title changes, two WCW US title changes & a possible Bret Hart heel turn over the course of 28 hours, another remarkable occurrence that may mean more in the long run is proof that Goldberg has become a bonafide ratings draw. Hogan & Austin are still the top two ratings draws for each respective company but Goldberg has entered the elite top tier. The two quarters that contained Goldberg's title victory over Raven drew remarkable ratings of 5.8 (before Raw went on the air) & 5.7 (up against the first quarter hour of Raw which drew a 3.7). Goldberg's match came close to reaching the record-setting viewership that the WWF reached for the culmination of Austin vs. McMahon the week before. Despite the momentum of last week's Raw, Goldberg's match helped Nitro gain a first quarter ratings advantage over Raw of two full ratings points (5.7 to 3.7). The gap quickly closed to one-tenth of a point (4.6 to 4.5) as soon as Goldberg's match ended, showing that a lot of WWF fans were willing to forgo the first 15 minutes of Raw to watch Goldberg, but then switched to Raw until switching back to Nitro for the Hogan- Savage title match at the end of Nitro. WCW needed a spark to have a chance to regain a sizable Monday night ratings lead. Bret was finally injected into the middle of the main event storyline. Bret has been underutilized by WCW in part because of politics & in part because Eric Bischoff wanted to save him until they needed him. The apparent plan is for Bret to regain the edge that he lost since joining WCW, give him strong promos & perhaps align him with Hogan, but by fall begin to break up with Hogan to set up a Bret vs. Hogan Starrcade main event. He may also say he helped Hogan win the belt because Hogan is who he wants to beat for the title. If Bret can gain any semblance of fire he should assure WCW of building a new ratings winning streak over Raw since his actions will be of particular interest to WWF fans. By injecting Bret into the main event storyline & better utilizing Nash, WCW has added life to what had become a predictable top-of-the-card set of storylines.

• published: 11 Oct 2013
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